The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office issued an updated consumer alert on Wednesday warning residents of telephone scam artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS. They want your date of birth, your social security number and that’s a way to get identify theft on you.
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The Sheriff’s Office is passing along tips from the IRS on spotting fake calls.
The residents told police a caller impersonating an IRS agent claimed they owed tax money and demanded residents make payments to a prepaid debit card.
“They’re hitting older people”, he said. If they are asking for more money, it’s a scam.
If you do think you might owe taxes, contact the IRS directly.
“Please do not give any personal information such as checking account numbers, credit card numbers, because it is a scam”, he said.
“They ask you to wire money to them via Western Union using pre-paid cards like a Vanilla card or a Green Dot card”.
If anything suspicious happens to you, Monroe Police say you can contact them.
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Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying. “The government is not going to ask for payment in those methods at all”, said Martha Currier, a complaint examiner at the Maine Attorney General’s office.
